This invention relates to covers for the club heads, and more particularly to a head cover for a golf club which may conveniently be used as a wiper and scrubber for cleaning a golf ball or golf club, as well as to the method of applying the cover hereof to a golf club.
Although golf club head covers exist in various configurations for providing protection for golf club heads while the club is not in actual use, only a few have been developed which are intended to serve an additional purpose of permitting the golfer to utilize the cover as a wiper for cleaning the golf ball or the club during play. One such dual purpose club head cover is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,570, issued to Edra J. Stewart, in which it is pointed out that such dual purpose covers are particularly useful as a putter cover. When a golfer takes the putter to the putting green, he/she removes the dual purpose cover from the putter and may use it to wipe the ball and/or the putter prior to putting. The Stewart device, which is constructed of terry cloth or toweling, includes a head-engaging portion conforming to the configuration to the putter head, a narrowed "waist" portion which may be elasticized for grasping the club shaft, and an elongate skirt portion hanging loosely around a considerable portion of the length of the shaft of the club. The skirt portion may, alternatively, be fastened by VELCRO.RTM. fasteners or other quick fastening means on the skirt, for causing the skirt to furl around the club shaft when the club is not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,652, issued to Alsie G. Hyden and Bill J. Blundell, discloses a combined putter head cover and towel, in which a boot-shaped sheath fits over the putter head and may include an elastic band for aiding in the retention of the boot on the putter head. A towel is secured about the peripheral edge of the boot's leg portion and is open along its length, apparently for hanging about the putter's shaft in a manner similar to the cover of the Stewart patent.
In each of these prior art devices, the head-engaging portion is shaped to the configuration of a particular type of putter head for fitting over the entire club head including the head's heel end and the club's distal toe end, and the towel portion substantially surrounds the putter's shaft. It would appear that such devices are not freely usable with different shapes and sizes of golf club heads, or even with different shapes and sizes of putter heads. Moreover, the circumstance of the towel's surrounding the shaft may interfere with the placing of the covered club in the golf club bag, as well as with the placing or withdrawing of other golf clubs in or from the bag containing the covered club. Further, the golfer would not conveniently be able to directly grasp the covered club by its shaft in the vicinity of the club head when withdrawing or replacing the club from or into the bag.
The foregoing disadvantages of prior art combined wiper and club head cover devices are overcome by means of the inventions disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,968 and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/904,702, which patent and application are incorporated herein by reference. A combined wiper and club head cover device is disclosed therein which may be used with golf clubs having heads of various sizes or shapes, and which does not surround the club shaft but instead is disposed away from the shaft and drapes over an end of the club, so that the covered club may be positioned in the golf bag with the draped portion of the device disposed outside the periphery of the golf club bag. The manner in which the cover is disposed precludes interference with other clubs in the bag while permitting the covered club to be withdrawn from and returned to the golf club bag with ease and convenience not previously available with prior art combined wiper and head cover devices.
In describing the mead cover of the parent application and patent, as well as of the present invention, it is recognized that a club to be utilized with the head cover includes a head attached to a shaft, the mead including two opposed ends conventionally referred to as the heel and the toe of the club head. The head cover of the parent application comprises a panel of pliant material such as cloth; means for engaging the panel with a first end of the club head such that the panel drapes from or over the second end of the club head when the club is vertically positioned with its head above its shaft; and means for releasably securing the panel to the club shaft with the engaging means engaging the first end of the club head such that the draping panel extends away from the shaft and substantially confined to one side of the shaft. The panel, which is preferably of terry cloth or toweling material, includes an end-engaging portion inwardly extending from an edge of the panel, for engaging the first end of the club head; and the cover includes fastening means along the panel's edge in the vicinity of the panel's end-engaging portion, for releasably securing the panel to the club shaft with the end-engaging portion engaging the head's first end and with the panel covering the club head and draping over the head's second end when the club is vertically positioned with its head above its shaft.
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,968, the panel may be considered as including two edges joined at the end-engaging portion. The fastening means, which is preferably a quick-fastening and quick-release device such as cooperating strips of mating hooks and loops marketed under the trademark VELCRO, is situated at the panel edges in the vicinity of the end-engaging portion for releasably securing the panel to the club shaft with the end-engaging portion engaging the head's first end and with the panel covering the club head and draping over the second end of the head when the club is vertically positioned with the head above the shaft.
As discussed in application Ser. No. 07/904,702, in one manner of considering the improvement of the invention disclosed therein, the panel would include two sections, namely a first section which is preferably of a pliant plastic or leather material, and a second section which is preferably terry cloth or toweling material, or a towel. The combined wiper and head cover comprises a pliant panel including a first panel section and a second panel section; means for engaging the first panel section with a first end of the club head such that the panel drapes over the second end of the club head when the club is vertically positioned with the head above the shaft; and means for releasably securing the panel to the club shaft with the first panel section engaging the first end of the club head such that the second panel section of the draping panel extends away from the shaft and is substantially confined to one side of the shaft.
The first section includes an end-engaging portion inwardly extending from an edge of the panel for engaging the first end of the club head, and fastening means is provided along such edge in the vicinity of the end-engaging portion for releasably securing the panel to the club shaft with the end-engaging portion engaging the head's first end and with the first section covering the club head and the panel draping over the second end of the head with the second section substantially confined to one side of the shaft when the club is vertically positioned with the head above the shaft. The edge along which the fastening means extends includes an edge of the first section for releasably securing the first section to the club shaft, and the fastening means extends generally toward the second end of the club head when securing the panel to the club shaft.
The panel may be considered as including two edges joined at the end-engaging portion of the first section, and preferably the two edges include edges of the first section; and the fastening means are at these edges in the vicinity of the end-engaging portion for releasably securing kite panel to the club shaft with the end-engaging portion of the first section engaging the head's first end and with the panel covering the club head and the second section draping from the second end of the mead when the club is vertically positioned with the head above the shaft.
According to another aspect thereof, the combined wiper and head cover comprises, in combination, a towel; head-engaging means secured to the towel for engaging a first end of the club head; and fastening means for releasably securing the head-engaging means to the club with the head-engaging means engaging the head's first end and extending over the head with the towel draping from a second end of the head and substantially confined to one side of the shaft when the club is vertically positioned with the head above the shaft. The club's first end is preferably its heel end, and the club's second end is preferably its distal toe end. Accordingly, the head-engaging means secured to the towel includes a heel-engaging portion for engaging the heel end of the club read; the fastening means releasably secures the head-engaging means to the club shaft with the heel-engaging portion engaging the heel end and the head-engaging means extending from the heel-engaging portion and covering the club head with the towel draping from the distal toe end and substantially confined to one side of the shaft when the club is vertically positioned with the head above the shaft.